SummaryBEHAVFRICTIONS will use novel models focussing on information-processing frictions to explain choice patterns described in behavioral economics and psychology. The proposed research will provide microfoundations that are essential for (i) identification of stable preferences, (ii) counterfactual predictions, and (iii) normative conclusions.
(i) Agents who face information-processing costs must trade the precision of choice against information costs. Their behavior thus reflects both their stable preferences and the context-dependent procedures that manage their errors stemming from imperfect information processing. In the absence of micro-founded models, the two drivers of the behavior are difficult to disentangle for outside observers. In some pillars of the proposal, the agents follow choice rules that closely resemble logit rules used in structural estimation. This will allow me to reinterpret the structural estimation fits to choice data and to make a distinction between the stable preferences and frictions.
(ii) Such a distinction is important in counterfactual policy analysis because the second-best decision procedures that manage the errors in choice are affected by the analysed policy. Incorporation of the information-processing frictions into existing empirical methods will improve our ability to predict effects of the policies.
(iii) My preliminary results suggest that when an agent is prone to committing errors, biases--such as overconfidence, confirmatory bias, or perception biases known from prospect theory--arise under second-best strategies. By providing the link between the agent's environment and the second-best distribution of the perception errors, my models will delineate environments in which these biases shield the agents from the most costly mistakes from environments in which the biases turn into maladaptations. The distinction will inform the normative debate on debiasing.

BEHAVFRICTIONS will use novel models focussing on information-processing frictions to explain choice patterns described in behavioral economics and psychology. The proposed research will provide microfoundations that are essential for (i) identification of stable preferences, (ii) counterfactual predictions, and (iii) normative conclusions.
(i) Agents who face information-processing costs must trade the precision of choice against information costs. Their behavior thus reflects both their stable preferences and the context-dependent procedures that manage their errors stemming from imperfect information processing. In the absence of micro-founded models, the two drivers of the behavior are difficult to disentangle for outside observers. In some pillars of the proposal, the agents follow choice rules that closely resemble logit rules used in structural estimation. This will allow me to reinterpret the structural estimation fits to choice data and to make a distinction between the stable preferences and frictions.
(ii) Such a distinction is important in counterfactual policy analysis because the second-best decision procedures that manage the errors in choice are affected by the analysed policy. Incorporation of the information-processing frictions into existing empirical methods will improve our ability to predict effects of the policies.
(iii) My preliminary results suggest that when an agent is prone to committing errors, biases--such as overconfidence, confirmatory bias, or perception biases known from prospect theory--arise under second-best strategies. By providing the link between the agent's environment and the second-best distribution of the perception errors, my models will delineate environments in which these biases shield the agents from the most costly mistakes from environments in which the biases turn into maladaptations. The distinction will inform the normative debate on debiasing.

Max ERC Funding

1 321 488 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-06-01, End date: 2023-05-31

Project acronymCoCoSym

ProjectSymmetry in Computational Complexity

Researcher (PI)Libor BARTO

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERZITA KARLOVA

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2017-COG

SummaryThe last 20 years of rapid development in the computational-theoretic aspects of the fixed-language Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs) has been fueled by a connection between the complexity and a certain concept capturing symmetry of computational problems in this class.
My vision is that this connection will eventually evolve into the organizing principle of computational complexity and will lead to solutions of fundamental problems such as the Unique Games Conjecture or even the P-versus-NP problem. In order to break through the current limits of this algebraic approach, I will concentrate on specific goals designed to
(A) discover suitable objects capturing symmetry that reflect the complexity in problem classes, where such an object is not known yet;
(B) make the natural ordering of symmetries coarser so that it reflects the complexity more faithfully;
(C) delineate the borderline between computationally hard and easy problems;
(D) strengthen characterizations of existing borderlines to increase their usefulness as tools for proving hardness and designing efficient algorithm; and
(E) design efficient algorithms based on direct and indirect uses of symmetries.
The specific goals concern the fixed-language CSP over finite relational structures and its generalizations to infinite domains (iCSP) and weighted relations (vCSP), in which the algebraic theory is highly developed and the limitations are clearly visible.
The approach is based on joining the forces of the universal algebraic methods in finite domains, model-theoretical and topological methods in the iCSP, and analytical and probabilistic methods in the vCSP. The starting point is to generalize and improve the Absorption Theory from finite domains.

The last 20 years of rapid development in the computational-theoretic aspects of the fixed-language Constraint Satisfaction Problems (CSPs) has been fueled by a connection between the complexity and a certain concept capturing symmetry of computational problems in this class.
My vision is that this connection will eventually evolve into the organizing principle of computational complexity and will lead to solutions of fundamental problems such as the Unique Games Conjecture or even the P-versus-NP problem. In order to break through the current limits of this algebraic approach, I will concentrate on specific goals designed to
(A) discover suitable objects capturing symmetry that reflect the complexity in problem classes, where such an object is not known yet;
(B) make the natural ordering of symmetries coarser so that it reflects the complexity more faithfully;
(C) delineate the borderline between computationally hard and easy problems;
(D) strengthen characterizations of existing borderlines to increase their usefulness as tools for proving hardness and designing efficient algorithm; and
(E) design efficient algorithms based on direct and indirect uses of symmetries.
The specific goals concern the fixed-language CSP over finite relational structures and its generalizations to infinite domains (iCSP) and weighted relations (vCSP), in which the algebraic theory is highly developed and the limitations are clearly visible.
The approach is based on joining the forces of the universal algebraic methods in finite domains, model-theoretical and topological methods in the iCSP, and analytical and probabilistic methods in the vCSP. The starting point is to generalize and improve the Absorption Theory from finite domains.

Max ERC Funding

1 211 375 €

Duration

Start date: 2018-02-01, End date: 2023-01-31

Project acronymCRAACE

ProjectContinuity and Rupture in Central European Art and Architecture, 1918-1939

Researcher (PI)Matthew RAMPLEY

Host Institution (HI)Masarykova univerzita

Call DetailsAdvanced Grant (AdG), SH5, ERC-2017-ADG

SummaryWhen new political elites and social structures emerge out of a historical rupture, how are art and architecture affected? In 1918 the political map of central Europe was redrawn as a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, marking a new era for the region. Through comparative analysis of the visual arts in 3 states built on the ruins of the Habsburg Empire (Austria, Hungary and [former] Czechoslovakia), this project examines how such political discontinuity affected art and architecture between 1918 and 1939. The project is organised into 4 themes, each resulting in a monograph:
1. Vernacular modernisms, nostalgia and the avant-garde
2. Presenting the state: world fairs and exhibitionary cultures
3. Piety, reaction and renewal
4. Contested histories: monuments, memory and representations of the historical past
It is the first systematic and comprehensive trans-national study of this type, based on the claim that the successor states to Austria-Hungary belonged to a common cultural space informed by the shared memory of the long years of Habsburg society and culture. The project focuses on the contradictory ways that visual arts of artists and architects in central Europe adapted to and tried to shape new socio-political circumstances in the light of the past. The project thus examines the long shadow of the Habsburg Empire over the art and culture of the twentieth century.
The project also considers the impact of the political and ideological imperatives of the three successor states on the visual arts; how did governments treat the past? Did they encourage a sense of historical caesura or look to the past for legitimation? How did artists and architects respond to such new impulses? In answering these questions the project analyses the conflicts between avant-gardes and more conservative artistic movements; the role of the visual arts in interwar memory politics; the place of art in the nexus of religion, national and state identity.

When new political elites and social structures emerge out of a historical rupture, how are art and architecture affected? In 1918 the political map of central Europe was redrawn as a result of the collapse of Austria-Hungary, marking a new era for the region. Through comparative analysis of the visual arts in 3 states built on the ruins of the Habsburg Empire (Austria, Hungary and [former] Czechoslovakia), this project examines how such political discontinuity affected art and architecture between 1918 and 1939. The project is organised into 4 themes, each resulting in a monograph:
1. Vernacular modernisms, nostalgia and the avant-garde
2. Presenting the state: world fairs and exhibitionary cultures
3. Piety, reaction and renewal
4. Contested histories: monuments, memory and representations of the historical past
It is the first systematic and comprehensive trans-national study of this type, based on the claim that the successor states to Austria-Hungary belonged to a common cultural space informed by the shared memory of the long years of Habsburg society and culture. The project focuses on the contradictory ways that visual arts of artists and architects in central Europe adapted to and tried to shape new socio-political circumstances in the light of the past. The project thus examines the long shadow of the Habsburg Empire over the art and culture of the twentieth century.
The project also considers the impact of the political and ideological imperatives of the three successor states on the visual arts; how did governments treat the past? Did they encourage a sense of historical caesura or look to the past for legitimation? How did artists and architects respond to such new impulses? In answering these questions the project analyses the conflicts between avant-gardes and more conservative artistic movements; the role of the visual arts in interwar memory politics; the place of art in the nexus of religion, national and state identity.

Summary"We will study fundamental problems in complexity theory using means developed in logic, specifically, in the filed of proof complexity. Since these problems seem extremely difficult and little progress has been achieved in solving them, we will prove results that will explain why they are so difficult and in which direction theory should be developed.
Our aim is to develop a system of conjectures based on the concepts of feasible incompleteness and pseudorandomness. Feasible incompleteness refers to conjectures about unprovability of statements concerning low complexity computations and about lengths of proofs of finite consistency statements. Essentially, they say that incompleteness in the finite domain behaves in a similar way as in the infinite. Several conjectures of this kind have been already stated. They have strong consequences concerning separation of complexity classes, but only a few special cases have been proved. We want to develop a unified system which will also include conjectures connecting feasible incompleteness with pseudorandomness. A major part of our work will concern proving special cases and relativized versions of these conjectures in order to provide evidence for their truth. We believe that the essence of the fundamental problems in complexity theory is logical, and thus developing theory in the way described above will eventually lead to their solution."

"We will study fundamental problems in complexity theory using means developed in logic, specifically, in the filed of proof complexity. Since these problems seem extremely difficult and little progress has been achieved in solving them, we will prove results that will explain why they are so difficult and in which direction theory should be developed.
Our aim is to develop a system of conjectures based on the concepts of feasible incompleteness and pseudorandomness. Feasible incompleteness refers to conjectures about unprovability of statements concerning low complexity computations and about lengths of proofs of finite consistency statements. Essentially, they say that incompleteness in the finite domain behaves in a similar way as in the infinite. Several conjectures of this kind have been already stated. They have strong consequences concerning separation of complexity classes, but only a few special cases have been proved. We want to develop a unified system which will also include conjectures connecting feasible incompleteness with pseudorandomness. A major part of our work will concern proving special cases and relativized versions of these conjectures in order to provide evidence for their truth. We believe that the essence of the fundamental problems in complexity theory is logical, and thus developing theory in the way described above will eventually lead to their solution."

Max ERC Funding

1 259 596 €

Duration

Start date: 2014-01-01, End date: 2018-12-31

Project acronymLBCAD

ProjectLower bounds for combinatorial algorithms and dynamic problems

Researcher (PI)Michal Koucky

Host Institution (HI)UNIVERZITA KARLOVA

Call DetailsConsolidator Grant (CoG), PE6, ERC-2013-CoG

SummaryThis project aims to establish the time complexity of algorithms for two classes of problems. The first class consists of problems related to Boolean matrix multiplication and matrix multiplication over various semirings. This class contains problems such as computing transitive closure of a graph and determining the minimum distance between all-pairs of nodes in a graph. Known combinatorial algorithms for these problems run in slightly sub-cubic time. By combinatorial algorithms we mean algorithms that do not rely on the fast matrix multiplication over rings. Our goal is to show that the known combinatorial algorithms for these problems are essentially optimal. This requires designing a model of combinatorial algorithms and proving almost cubic lower bounds in it.
The other class of problems that we will focus on contains dynamic data structure problems such as dynamic graph reachability and related problems. Known algorithms for these problems exhibit trade-off between the query time and the update time, where at least one of them is always polynomial. Our goal is to show that indeed any algorithm for these problems must have update time or query time at least polynomial.
The two classes of problems are closely associated with so called 3SUM problem which serves as a benchmark for uncomputability in sub-quadratic time. Our goal is to deepen and extend the known connections between 3SUM, the other two classes and problems like formula satisfiability (SAT).

This project aims to establish the time complexity of algorithms for two classes of problems. The first class consists of problems related to Boolean matrix multiplication and matrix multiplication over various semirings. This class contains problems such as computing transitive closure of a graph and determining the minimum distance between all-pairs of nodes in a graph. Known combinatorial algorithms for these problems run in slightly sub-cubic time. By combinatorial algorithms we mean algorithms that do not rely on the fast matrix multiplication over rings. Our goal is to show that the known combinatorial algorithms for these problems are essentially optimal. This requires designing a model of combinatorial algorithms and proving almost cubic lower bounds in it.
The other class of problems that we will focus on contains dynamic data structure problems such as dynamic graph reachability and related problems. Known algorithms for these problems exhibit trade-off between the query time and the update time, where at least one of them is always polynomial. Our goal is to show that indeed any algorithm for these problems must have update time or query time at least polynomial.
The two classes of problems are closely associated with so called 3SUM problem which serves as a benchmark for uncomputability in sub-quadratic time. Our goal is to deepen and extend the known connections between 3SUM, the other two classes and problems like formula satisfiability (SAT).